American League Game Summary - Baltimore at Detroit
(Saturday, August 18th)
Final Score: Baltimore 3, Detroit 2
Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Chris Davis hit a three-run homer, Zach Britton
threw seven scoreless innings and the Orioles held on for a 3-2 win over the
Tigers on Saturday night.
Davis' blast in the seventh was the difference and Britton (2-1) got the win
after being called up from Triple-A Norfolk before the game, giving up six
hits and three walks with five strikeouts in his sixth start of the season.
Baltimore snapped a two-game losing streak, including a 5-3 loss in the series
opener on Friday, and moved to 10-4 in the last 14 games.
Jhonny Peralta had a two-run single in the eighth for the Tigers, who hit into
three double plays and had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Rick Porcello (9-8) gave up seven hits, including Davis' homer, and a walk
with six strikeouts in six-plus innings.
Davis went the other way on a 1-1 fastball for his 19th homer of the season,
knocking it into the Detroit bullpen behind left field to give the Orioles a
3-0 lead in the seventh.
"He made one mistake and I was able to get a hold of it," said Davis. "These
are the kind of games that you want at the end of the season. They're playoff
atmosphere, they're close games and they really test the character of the
team."
Tigers manager Jim Leyland liked Porcello's location on the pitch and gave all
the credit to Davis for hitting it.
"It looked like it was on the black (of the plate) and down. You gotta give
him credit, it was a good piece of hitting," said Leyland.
Adam Jones and Matt Wieters had stroked back-to-back base hits to lead off the
inning and Mark Reynolds followed Davis' blast with a single to chase Porcello
for Brayan Villarreal, who escaped the inning.
Pedro Strop replaced Britton to start the eighth, giving up a leadoff single
to Austin Jackson and hitting Miguel Cabrera with a one-out pitch. Peralta
knocked both runners in, but was thrown out trying to take second base, ending
the inning.
Orioles closer Jim Johnson then threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 36th save.
Nine combined hits in the first six innings produced zero runs with the Tigers
finding it hard to get out of their own way.
They loaded the bases in the first inning but got nothing after Peralta
grounded into a double play. They hit into another double play in the second
and back-to-back singles leading off the third failed to produce a run for the
Orioles.
Jackson was stranded after a leadoff double in the bottom of the third and
Andy Dirks was caught stealing after starting the fifth with a single for
Detroit. The Tigers then hit into a third double play to end the sixth.
"A couple early opportunities got away from us. We didn't score, and that
happens," said Leyland.
Game Notes
Detroit is 3-2 in the season series. Sunday is the final meeting between the
teams this year...Britton had been sent down Aug. 8. To make room for him, the
Orioles sent infielder Joe Mahoney to Norfolk.
08/19 01:01:45 ET

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